Chapter 9
NINE
Maxim
The car was late tonight.
Nearly nine-thirty when it pulled in.
They parked in the circular drive as I watched through my binoculars, and I did not see Seleme get out.
My heart thundered in my chest as her mother and father made their way from the black sedan into the house, the front door shutting behind them and the car sitting silent.
Was she ever in the car?
Has she been at the house since I left?
I haven’t seen her. Now, seeing her parents emerge from the car without her, my head is pounding. The tightness in my gut that’s been my constant companion for days twists into painful knots. I’ve been watching her house for the better part of an hour, waiting for any sign that she’s there, but it all seems quiet. For all of my twenty human years, finding love was never a consideration. Yet, here I am, on the eve of the most important birthday of my complicated life and my well-ordered world has been turned upside down by a mortal.
With his dark eyes and quick reflexes, Maxim Forsythe not only saved me, he left me breathless. This monster of a man had me feeling all the human things I’ve read about in books and seen in movies but knew deep down in my soul were not meant for me.
Still, that doesn’t stop the human half of me from making some very dangerous decisions. You see, long ago promises were made to keep me safe. To keep my family safe. Breaking those promises means everything that matters in my life will be destroyed. But if they’re kept, my humanity will be lost forever.
And so will Maxim.
Author’s note: This is vampire love, Dani style. Fast, hot and not without risk. Star-crossed doesn’t begin to explain the hurdles these two will need to overcome if they are to find their happily ever after. But, never fear, this alpha mortal knows no limits when it comes to taking, and keeping, what belongs to
him. Always safe, no cheating, over the top love with a happily every after that lasts into eternity.I reach down, thinking I can relieve myself from this ache she’s created in me, but as soon as I brush my hard cock through my jeans, I recoil.
There’s nothing that will soothe me until I’m balls deep in her sweet cunt. She’s ruined me, and if I die a virgin, so be it. Because I’ll never stick my dick anywhere but inside her. I’d rather die.
I bring my hands to my head, running them back and forth before covering my face and releasing the painful breath I’ve been holding for days.
That’s it.
I can’t do this. I can’t wait for Dimitri to get me the security code.
I don’t know how, but I’m getting through that fence. I'll tear down the gate if I have to, but I’m getting into that house. I’m going to scream her name like Marlon Brando until they kill me or the cops drag me away.
Or, the other option, which I’m banking on…Seleme emerges, and I explain to her father that I’m not leaving. Tell him he can beat me bloody if he needs to, but I love his daughter.
He can take my life, but he can’t take my heart.
It already belongs to Seleme.
If that doesn’t break his resolve, I don’t know what will.
I march to the front door and take hold of the handle, my heart slamming in my chest, my pulse deafening in my ears. As I swing the door open, I nearly fall backward as those ice-blue eyes spear my soul.
“I’m sorry…” Seleme is standing there, her hand still raised in a frozen knock while her sweet scent swirls around me, taking my breath and driving hot blood through my veins into my already raging erection.
“Get in here.” I reach out and tug her arm down, grasping her hands and pulling her inside, harder than I should, but I can’t help myself. I need her here, in my house, and until she stepped inside, it was just that.
A house.
But now, within two seconds in her presence, it’s become a home.
A home I’m going to create for us both, so help me God, if it takes a hundred lifetimes. I will not let her go.
I take her warm hand and twine my fingers with hers, pulling her down the hallway into the living room, lit with a few candles — the only lights I’ve wanted in the house since I met her.
“Where have you been? I’ve been watching…” I admit, expecting anger but seeing only a knowing look in her eyes. “I can’t stop thinking about you. About us.”
“I know.” She looks at me, then at the floor, but her fingers tighten around mine. “It’s complicated. I only have a bit of time. I needed to talk to you. To explain some things.”
“There’s nothing to explain. I fucked it up. I rushed you. It was too fast. But you need to know it was so much more than just my fucked-up need to be with you. I’ve waited so long, Seleme, it’s more than just wanting sex. I’ve been watching you. From the first night I moved in here and I saw you running with that cat. Since I looked out through my binoculars and watched you. I don’t know.” I rub my hand over my mouth, trying to find the words. “I was addicted to you. I’m a fucking crazy, stalking asshole, I know. But then, when…the other night. I’ve never felt anything like that. For anyone. I’ve never touched another woman before, and now, you’re driving me fucking crazy.”
I’m breathless after spitting out so many words, and I fall silent, staring into her wide eyes, the whites nearly glowing and the blue shimmering like the water in a secret tropical cove.
“It’s just…” She pauses, and I brace for what’s coming because I can tell it’s not going to be good. “There are complications in my life.”
I shake my head. “I don’t care. Are you married? Are you in love with someone else?”
She pinches her lips tight, and I go cold. Then she shakes her head and gives me the answer I need. “No.” A beat passes, then the cold knife is delivered directly to my heart. “Not yet. But I will be. In a few hours. Married that is.”
Tears seep from the corners of her eyes, and I want to rain down hellfire on the world. “No.” I shake my head. It’s all I can manage to say, and my hands go to her face, my fingers clutching at her cheeks, thumbs feeling the pulse under her jaw.
“Yes.” She tries not to look at me, but I put my nose to hers and give her eyes nowhere to hide.
“Tell me you love him. Tell me you want to marry him.” It’s a challenge to her, a dare to tell me the truth I already know, because the sorrow in her eyes has already told me.
“I don’t. I don’t love him. I don’t want to marry him. But I can’t explain it all. It’s been arranged for a long time. It’s what I have to do.”
“Fuck that.” Rage boils inside of me. “You can’t force a human being to do that. There’s a way out. And you know what it is?”
My words thunder around the room as she lets out a defeated sigh, a single shoulder raising in a shrug. “There’s no way out.”
“Yes, there is. And it’s standing right here, looking into eyes that I’ve dreamed about for so long but never believed could be real. Now, here you are, and I’m not giving up. Not on you. Not on us.”
Her hands hook over my forearms as my muscle turns to stone.
“Maxim.” She whispers my name, and I hear the pain in each syllable. “This isn’t possible. We barely know each other. It’s not real.”
“It is fucking real. It’s the realest thing in my life. It’s like I’ve been sleepwalking for thirty-five years, and you woke me into a world with light and color. I know it doesn’t make rational sense, but there are things in this world that don’t, and they’re still real, nonetheless. I never believed in fate, or karma, or God or anything. Now I believe in all of it. I’m ready to believe in anything. Tell me about ghosts. Tell me about monsters, vampires, werewolves, aliens. I’m ready. You’ve done that to me. Made me believe. Because something I never thought would happen to me did, and that thing is you.”
Her eyes widen, searching my face. “What if those things were real?” She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth. “All those things you just said. Or just one of them. How would you feel if you saw one, or knew they existed, those mythical beings?”
I shrug. “I told you, you’ve made me believe all things are possible. I mean it, Seleme. Because I never believed I would find you in a hundred lifetimes, but here you are. So, let’s just say, my mind is open to anything at this point.” I run my hands down her neck, then slide my fingers through the silk of her hair, pulling her into me, feeling the softness of her body melt into the hardness of mine.
Her cheeks are pink, and her mouth opens into an O, ready to retort, but I don’t give her the chance.
“Tell me right now, are you wet?”
She gasps as I rock my hips forward, pressing the length of my steel-hard shaft into her belly and watching her pupils dilate with excitement.
Her hands run up my arms, then down my chest until they are pressed over my racing heart. “We can’t. We just…can’t.”
I hear the words, but there's no conviction behind them. She doesn’t want to deny me any more than I want to let her go.
I’m done using words. They’re getting us nowhere, and my lust takes control as I grip her around the waist, backing her into the wall, watching as she licks her lips in anticipation of the kiss that’s coming.
“You need. To answer. My question,” I demand. My mouth hovers over hers, drawing her sweet breath into me. “Tell me.”
The slightest of nods tips her head, and my cock twitches as she wets her lips again. I trail my hands up her hips, up her waist, over her breasts, until they reach the collar of her dress as she arches her back from the wall into me.
“I’ve been wet since you opened the door.” Her eyes flick up and down as I rock my body into hers. “No. That’s a lie.”
“You need to learn to tell the truth, Seleme. You must always tell me the truth.”
“I’ve been wet for four days. Every time I think of you. Every dream I have of you. So, no, I’m not just wet right now. I’m soaked. I want…” Her voice falters.
“What do you want? I want to give you everything, Seleme. Everything you could want in this world. Anything my mortal soul can give you, I will. All you need do is ask.”
Her pink face goes white.
“What?” I ask, unsure what I could have said that would scare her like this.
She shakes her head. “Nothing.”
“Tell me what you want.”
Her eyes are begging me for something that she can't say.
“You want me to touch you?” I grab her dress in my hands and tug, making her yelp as the fabric tears, exposing the swell of her breasts. I don’t care. I’ll buy her a new dress. I’ll buy her a thousand. I’ll spend every penny of the money Castori gave me and be glad. I lower my hands and tug again, harder this time, until the rest of the red silk dress gives way, and I strip it from her body, leaving her standing in a black lace bra and panties.
Her body shivers as I trail my fingers down her soft skin, over her belly button, teasing at the elastic of her panties before exploring lower and parting the folds of her pussy with two fingers. She opens her thighs, giving me more of her, and the desire I see in her eyes has cum seeping out of my cock, making my balls throb.
She nods on a shaking breath as her slick arousal drenches my palm.
“I do.”
“Do what?”
“Want you.”
“Good. Because you’re going to get me. And this pussy is begging for me to be balls deep inside you. And far be it from me to deny you anything, Seleme. I already told you, I’m going to give you everything, but it’s going to start right here by giving you my cock. You want that, don’t you? Say it. Say you want my cock inside you. Tell me you need it.”
She rocks into my hand, tension plain on her face, eyes pleading for relief. My own control fades as the animal she’s unleashed inside of me claws to be released. Demands to have what belongs to it. To mount her like a beast, howling at the moon, so loud even hell knows she’s taken.
I lean to her ear and repeat, “Say it. Tell me what you need, or do you want me to stop?” I draw my fingers half out of her soaking warmth and feel her body tighten.
“No.” There’s fear in her voice. “God, please don’t stop. I’m aching for you. I need you. I need your cock inside me.” The words spill out, desperate, and I’m obsessed with the way I feel her heart beating against my chest.
“I’m going to be your first. You’re going to be my first. But you know what else?” I press my body into hers, the unyielding wall behind her giving her no retreat.
“What?”
“I’m also going to be your last. And you’re going to be mine.”
I pump my hips against hers and she clings to my neck as I twist my fingers inside her tight, unfucked pussy.
“Yes.” She nearly sobs as she starts to thrust against my hand.
“Good, now that that’s settled, don’t you ever mention marrying someone else. Don’t you ever come here and tell me you’re not mine. You are. All of you.”
I crush my lips to hers, muffling her moans as her blue eyes widen, and I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my life. Never tasted anything as delicious as her lips. Kissing her again only feeds the ravenous hunger inside of me, and I know I would kill anyone that tried to take her from me.
The soft whimpers she’s releasing into our kiss only make me more addicted to her. Those sounds…Jesus, there’s nothing sweeter than her sounds of pleasure at my hand.
Her tongue writhes with mine as my own need pulses painfully. It’s as though all the years of never touching a woman have come crashing into this moment, and my lust consumes me in a fire that only Seleme can extinguish.
I need to fuck her. I need to fuck her virgin pussy with my virgin cock until we are both sore. I need to see the blood of her first time on my white sheets. And then I need to do it again.
Her kiss is my undoing, and my orgasm balances on a razors’ edge, but I want to be inside her.
I need to cum inside her.
I break our kiss, pumping my fingers deeper until she shakes and drenches my palm, my teeth falling on her neck again, feeling her pleasure rip through her as I sink them deep, unsure why my need to bite her, to mark her, is so consuming, but no longer caring.
“I want you.” She reaches down, her palm running up and down the length of steel under my pants. “All of you.”
“You’re going to get all of me, but not here. Come.” I take her hand once again. “Follow me.”
“I’m pretty sure…” She murmurs, and I look down into her eyes as I walk backwards toward the office door. “I’m pretty sure I’d follow you anywhere.”
All the dark thoughts she’s arousing inside me have me on the edge of madness. The urgency of what I need from her is dangerous, but with it there’s this streak of protectiveness, even stronger than she's already made me feel.
“Good.” I look into her blue eyes and hope what I’m seeing there is the same thing I’m feeling. “Because I’m never letting you go.”
With that, we half run, half stumble up the stairs — because when I take her virginity and give her mine, it’s going to be in our bed. From now on, this is where she will sleep.
Once I take her — all of her — we will never be apart again.